Russian journalist Arkady Mamontov has
blamed “gay activity” for a meteor that fell over Russia.
The February 15 meteor explosion over
the Chelyabinsk Oblast lit the morning sky and caused a series of
shock waves that damaged thousands of buildings and injured about
1,500 people.
On his state channel Rossiya 1 program
Special Correspondent, Mamontov linked the meteor shower to
the nation's growing “gay activity,” using the Old Testament
story of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as a metaphor.
Mamontov called the meteor's descent a
warning “to all of us that we should keep the family tradition,
traditional love, or else something else – not only the Chelyabinsk
meteorite – will hit us,” according
to RT.
LGBT rights group the Russian LGBT
Network reportedly has filed a complaint against Mamontov accusing
him of hate speech.
According to Igor Kochetkov, the
group's chair, Mamontov also accused gays and lesbians of wanting to
“destroy [traditional] Russia.”